EDITOR: STEPHEN OUMA BWIRE
The August 11, 2023 meeting convened and hosted by the Director for Labour at Gender, Labour and Social Development Ministry with requests for dialogue on NOTU wrangles, has been welcomed by trade union leaders and workers in the country.
Director for Labour Hon Martin Wandera, in communication to Chairman General and Secretary National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU) and Chairpersons and General Secretaries dated August 1, 2023 , referred parties to the June 7, 2023 ruling that was in favour of embattled NOTU Chairman General Mr Usher Wilson Owere. Hon Wandera stated :” I have carefully read both the said decision of the court and subsequent order extracted by Okua and Associates for Mr Owere.
I have also reviewed the letter by Byamukama, Kaboneka and Advocates for the respondents in the matter referred to . He said in the interest of the stable industrial relations he was inviting NOTU members for a meeting to consider a way forward. During the meeting there were arguments by trade union leaders on whether its necessary to dialogue with Usher Wilson Owere when he earlier turned down dialogue and sought legal redress. Some members were irked by the development arguing that dialoguing with Mr Owere would relegate them to “pushovers” yet they had the discretion and the key to determine Owere’s destiny. Members discussed the issues at hand including Owere’s conduct at NOTU, where he declared himself titular head and froze the federation’s bank accounts and his deliberate failure to accept earlier Gender and Labour Ministry proposed mediation.
To their consterntion Mr Owere decided to go to court where the case was ruled in his favour. But despite NOTU leadership appealing in the case, Usher Owere’s fate remains bleak and unpredictable. NOTU affiliates have vowed that they will not mind how long the case takes but they would ensure they hammer the final “nail in Owere’s political coffin”. The hostility between Owere and his detractors has been growing day by day and has reached unreconciliable levels. Trade Union leaders now say Owere’s court ruling could become inconsequential if the ruling in NOTU’s appeal is not delivered before December 2023 when the current term of office of the federation’s Executive Board expires.
But as they were pondering on how best to tackle issues at hand what they ” needed the axe for the wind brought it down. Amalgamated Transport and General Workers Union (ATGWU) voted out Mr Owere. The new development means Mr Owere cannot defend his position of Chairman General. It is even inconceivable how he will manage to make the list of delegates to the December 2023 NOTU QDC.
Hon Martin Wandera stressed the need for leaders to always put personal interests aside and advance workers’ issues. Members agreed on dialogue but warned Owere’s side against taking them for granted. They called for cessation of hostilities, commitment of partices in dialoging and respect for parties involved■
